According to the NPD Group the controversial loot-grinder Too Human cracked the top ten sales chart for the month of August. Selling 168,200 units in a ten day period, Too Human landed the number 8 spot beating out Madden 09 for the Nintendo Wii and Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS.
While reactions have been mixed since Too Human's release, Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack told X3F in a post game release interview that the team from St. Catharine's, Canada, couldn't be happier with the final product. Controversy aside, Too Human debuted strong and continued sales only solidifies that the previously announced sequels are still in the works. That Valkyrie death animation can still fall in a well and die, though. Just saying.
Lionhead has released a new batch of screenshots from the upcoming Fable II. The six screenshots serve to highlight the variety of possible heroes available to gamers in Peter Molyneux's latest opus. All told we have an evil Slash wannabe, a pirate, a gun-toting gentleman wearing a Mardi Gras mask, a pale, white-haired vixen, a sideburns-sporting, purple-coated hero and ... a man in a dress. Yes, there's quite a bit of variety possible thanks to the many clothing and style options, not to mention the many moral and social choices that alter a characters appearance. And now, thanks to Fable II's Live co-op, you can actually show off your unique hero to your friends.
Check out a hi-res versions of these images in the gallery below.
A while ago we tipped our readers (that's you!) about GameDaily looking for questions to ask Fable II maestro Peter Molyneux. Well kids, the time has come. The 10 Questions feature with Peter Molyneux is now online and ready to read. Molyneux fields questions about the size of the game world (about 12 times bigger), whether or not players can choose their breed of dog (nope) and whether or not he dreams about Fable II (yup). We should probably warn big Fable II fans that the piece contains no major revelations about the game, but then there really isn't much left to reveal. For example, Molyneux does not confirm any player-vs-player support in Fable II, though he does admit "It would be cool to fight against other heroes, as everyone's hero will be unique."
Yes, it would be cool, wouldn't it? Head over to GameDaily for the full feature.
As we've come to expect, the latest Halo Wars monthly update doesn't contain much in the way of juicy information. No new UNSC units have been uncovered. There are no details about how the Covenant plays. No, what we get is some general info that the game is coming along nicely. There are promises that more info is on the way soon though, along with some significant changes to the Halo Wars website. And then there is the image at right (click here for full size), which is undoubtedly the most intriguing part of the update. It's accompanied by the text below.
What does it all mean? We have no idea. We're fairly certain that the image is some kind of environment. Dare we hope it's a Flood containment facility? Given the presence of human lettering in the lower left corner, we're inclined to think it's not. Thoughts?
Update: After a little digging, we've been informed that the piñata hunt is for the UK version of Xbox.com only. Of course, there's nothing stopping North American gamers from visiting the UK site...
In celebration of the release of Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Rare has informed us that the brand new community website will be launching today at midnight PST. The community website will allow gamers to share photos of their gardens and upload any Piñata Vision cards they have created. Also, Viva PiñataAceyBongos (think of him as the European version of Major Nelson) is launching a piñata hunt on Xbox.com. Starting Friday, piñata eggs will be hidden on Xbox.com. Mousing over them will cause a piñata to pop out. Clicking on the piñata will open a PDF of a Piñata Vision card that can then be imported into their gardens. Then you're just stuck with the (somewhat awkward) choice of either printing it out or holding your Vision camera up to the screen.
We'd opt for the first choice, especially if you're at work. After all, people might suspect something if you drag your entire entertainment center into your cubicle.
Hot on the heels of Matthew McCarthy, writer of "Geometry Wars Will Be the Death of Me," comes Bryan Simon and "Thank You Bungie - An Ode to Halo 3." As you may have guessed, the song is pretty much a love letter to Bungie and Halo 3 (not that there's anything wrong with that). It's not a bad little ditty and it's something we're sure Halo fans will appreciate. We can only wonder if Bungie will approve and decide that Bryan can haz Recon. The real question -- and perhaps fear -- is whether or not this signals the birth of a new generation of video game troubadors determined to see their names up in lights (or at least on YouTube).
Anyone care to write a musical about Call of Duty 4? A little Left 4 Dead hip-hop, perhaps? The possibilities are endless, the implications frightning.
[Thanks to the many, many people who sent this in]
Update: This giveaway is now closed and our winner will be notified soon. Check your spam boxes, kids!
After a week covering Silicon Knights and Too Human, it's time to end our special coverage with a special giveaway. Up for grabs we have a copy of Too Human autographed by the team at Silicon Knights. We also have a swanky Too Human cloth bag for you to put it in. You wouldn't want the ink to get all smudged, now would you?). But wait, there's more! We also have an autographed Too Human poster for our second prize winner (check out a photo of it after the break). To enter, simply follow these directions:
Every player in Too Human has to make a philosophical choice: Human or Cybernetic. Leave a comment telling us which path you would choose, and why. It doesn't even have to be specific to Too Human, just have fun with it.
Only one comment per person will be accepted. Posters of multiple comments will be disqualified. We'll accept entries until 11:00PM eastern time today, August 29th, 2008. You must be at least 18 years old to enter. This giveaway is open only to residents of the U.S. and Canada (excluding Quebec).
Later today, we'll pick two winner via random drawing.
One grand prize winner will receive an autographed copy of Too Human and a Too Human cloth bag, worth $80. One second prize winner will receive an autographed Too Human poster, worth $20.
A supposedly leaked list of the achievements for Gears of War 2 has been circling the web today. IGN has learned from Microsoft that the the list is not official, adding that it is "not complete and only contains about 60% of the actual achievements." IGN states that it will have the official list of Gears of War 2 achievements tomorrow at 10 AM (Eastern Time, presumably). In the meantime, check out the leaked list after the break and see if you can figure out which ones are missing.
It looks like Amazon is looking to grab the attention of 360 RPG gamers, because the company is currently listing the Fable II Limited Collector's Edition for $66.99, a full $13.00 off the retail price. Our instinct is to believe it must be an incorrect listing, but the page makes it quite clear that the listed price is 16% off retail and it includes the correct October 21 release date. So, if you're looking for some Fable goodness on the cheap (don't forget that pre-ordering at Amazon also nabs you the Fable II Pub Games for free), head over to Amazon and snatch one of these babies up. If you do so successfully, be sure to mention it in the comments!
As part of our week long coverage of Silicon Knights latest release Too Human, X3F presents our brand new Too Human page. The Too Human page includes all the latest news on the game, including each of our special features that we will be debuting this week on X3F, as well as image galleries and basically anything you need to know about the game. The page will be updated throughout the week to include every day's feature and we will also update it in the future as news develops. Click and enjoy. Also, keep your eyes out for more pages covering major releases in the future.
Ensemble Studios has updated the official Halo Wars website has been updated with a new vehicle, the UNSC Wolverine. The Wolverine is an anti-air vehicle equipped with missile pods that can take out aerial vehicles with the greatest of ease. While designed primarily to take out aerial vehicles, Wolverine's can also aim their missiles at ground targets, though the website implies that the missiles are less accurate when dealing with ground targets, suggesting instead that players aim for "stationary targets or buildings." It's also equipped with a grenade launcher that "can potentially wreck soft targets," though the website adds that Wolverine's need ground support in order to stay alive. Hit the source link for the full entry on the UNSC Wolverine as well as a short video of it in action.
There it is, the box art for Halo Wars from Ensemble Studios. It was drawn by the same folks who did the art for Halo 2 and Halo 3. And no, this doesn't mean the game is coming out soon (it's still slated for early next year). Here's our suggestion, print out this box art, slap it onto a DVD case and fool your friends! They will totally think you have the game already. When they ask where the disc is, just tell them that it's "in the shop." If they ask you why there is no art on the back of your DVD case ... run.
The Tales of Albion, a website designed to fill gamers in on the back story of Fable II, has been updated with a new section. Entitled "Fall of the Heroes," it chronicles the journey of one young hero who has just graduated from the Heroes Guild. As the name implies, this particular section of the Tales of Albion deals with civil unrest caused by heroes after the events of the first Fable. Let's just say that the adventure embarked upon by the young hero is not a happy one. One interesting note, this section of the Tales of Albion includes screenshots of locations from the original Fable in each chapter. Here's hoping the final section, "Travels in Today's Albion," will show us how these locations have changed over the years between Fable and Fable II.
It may not be as exciting as, say, the actual release of Fable II, but we are required by gaming law to inform you that Lionhead has posted new Fable II wallpaper. There are four such wallpapers, three of which feature the citizens of Bowerstone or Bloodstone. Bloodstone, by the looks of it, is full of some less than savory characters, including a man sporting what appear to be rouged knees and a sign that reads "Call me Doris." Whatever you say, Doris.
Microsoft announced today that gamers can now pre-order Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Much more exciting is the fact that the rumored price of $39.99 is true, making Nuts & Bolts a real bargain. Making the deal even sweeter, gamers that pre-order the game will receive a download code for the Xbox Live Arcade version of the original Banjo Kazooie. Even better than that, the code will work starting on November 14, the day of the Nuts & Bolts launch, a full two weeks before the XBLA game hits Xbox Live Marketplace. The XBLA release will include a feature called "Stop N' Swop" which allows players to unlock new features in XBLA game by playing Nuts & Bolts.
Finally, a new Nuts & Bolts world called Jiggoseum was revealed. You can check out the first images of Jiggoseum in the gallery below.
As we've come to expect, the latest Halo Wars monthly update doesn't contain much in the way of juicy information. No new UNSC units have been uncovered. There are no details about how the Covenant plays. No, what we get is some general info that the game is coming along nicely. There are promises that more info is on the way soon though, along with some significant changes to the Halo Wars website. And then there is the image at right (click here for full size), which is undoubtedly the most intriguing part of the update. It's accompanied by the text below.
